Here's the quilt blocks I started for the binkie I want to make. Phone the quilt police! Looking kind of fungly--thanks to Gwen Marston's books, its another one of those Liberated Star things. I don't know how many of these stars I'll make--not too sure where I'm going with this.

Here's my new crocheted sweater, I sewed on the buttons last night while I was watching TV. When I was a kid, umpteen years ago, there was a song on the radio, "It looks better on the dummy than it does on me." It was about a lady who saw a hat on the dummy in the store window, and when she got it home, it was not becoming on her. My Mom and I used to sometimes remember that song when we went shopping, and have a laugh. I guess I can say that about this sweater, it looked so cute in the photo in the book. And it's patchwork. I had every color of yarn required except for the orange and the red. So I sent away for the yarn, and lo and behold, although I was using the exact brand of yarn like in the book, the red was in no way like the orange! It was much thinner, softer, and slicker. I had to phone the yarn company. Thank goodness almost every little thing that you buy has a phone number on it. So the lady at the yarn company was very nice, and about a month later, three skeins of the correct yarn arrived. And eventually, I finished the sweater. And tried it on. Oh well, at least it's a warm sweater. And as soon as the weather cools down, (it's about 80 degrees Fahrenheit) I can wear it. (If I dare.)

Bean Soup Recipe

Three Can Soup

A really easy recipe, and very healthy, low fat. I don't add any extra salt.

4 cups water

1/4 cup barley

2 carrots, sliced

2 parsnips, sliced

1 potato, cubed

1/2 cup (more or less) frozen mixed vegetables

1 can kidney beans, drained

1 can mushrooms, drained

8 oz. can tomato sauce

1 or 2 bouillon cubes

parsley, either fresh or dried

1 tablespoon of dried onions, or a small onion, chopped

dash of cumin

dash of Mrs. Dash seasoning

pepper

handful of macaroni, broken spaghetti, or noodles

Put ingredients except the pasta in a big pot and bring a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes. Add more water, if necessary (soup will be thick). Throw in the pasta and cook about 15 minutes more. Serves 6. Nice reheated.

Hint, to cool down a pot of soup for refrigerating--add a few ice cubes.

Binkie

I'm starting a new thing, I want to make some donation quilts for the Binky Patrol. I just put this quilt top together. I call it a "liberated" I Spy. It's very easy, especially because I had strings and stuff hanging around, left overs from other projects. I ordered a large batt. I'm planning to cut it into four parts, to make 4 binkies.

This is the quilt that I'm sending to our new baby, Ella. I hope that she will be warm and cozy.

This is the vest that I knitted for my oldest granddaughter. She wanted bright purple, and so it is. You know, when I knit with knitting worsted, no matter what size needles or what brand of yarn I use, darned if I can get the 5 stitches to the inch that most patterns call for. I bought those new bamboo needles, and I just love them, but that didn't help. And I tried buying a better brand of yarn, but no dice. I guess that I knit more loosely than other people. My solution was to start a file with knitting patterns that are 16 stitches to 4 inches. I just leaf through that file, and I can change the stitch pattern if I want. This pattern was in an old vest leaflet, and I changed the knitting pattern to k1, p1 on one row and plain knit on the other. Anyway, I'm saving this vest to give for the holidays.

So, what's new? how about a new baby? We are welcoming a new baby girl named Ella to the family. Let's see, baby Ella is my first cousin's granddaughter. So maybe she's my second cousin? I guess I shouldn't get too technical about that. Anyhow, I have made a baby quilt and pink sweater, in the past few months. How did I know the baby would be a girl and made her a pink sweater? Well, the truth is, I didn't know, so I made a pink one and a blue one. I used to be a Girl Guide (called Girl Scout, in the USA) and although that was about sixty years ago, I did learn to "be prepared." A baby boy will turn up for the blue sweater one of these days, I hope. Best wishes to our darling baby and her family. Meanwhile, I'm planning to make a "liberated" I Spy quilt. I've just started on it. It's just a couple of sample blocks and a big mess of scraps on the ironing board at the moment.

Wonky Dresden plate quilt

Here it is, finished at last. I used the same fabric for the binding as for the borders. It is free-motion quilted. I don't know why I made this quilt, it was an impulse. That could be a title for a book--the Impulsive Quilter. I used Jan Mullen's book "Free & Eazy Circles," for making the quilt, except that I made my own modifications to the instructions, I used muslin for the foundations for the circles. And I found that if I made a running stitch around the circles, they were so much easier to applique. The circles are all hand appliqued to the background. I used all kinds of scraps for the quilt, even the backgrounds were bits of solids.

I'm back!

Wow, my free advice for you--don't catch a cold. My Uncle Maurice (the doctor) used to say, "If you treat your cold, you'll be well in a week. And if you do nothing for it, it takes seven days." But bronchitis takes longer, Oy. Anyhow, I feel stronger this evening, and not coughing so much. I'm going to pin together my Dresden plate quilt. I have to piece together some left over bits of batting. First of all, I have tons of left-over bits of batting stashed away, and second of all, I don't have a batt handy at the moment. I usually order batting when I get a "free shipping" coupon from that big yard goods store--you know the one. But I realized that it's come to the point where I better start trying to use up some of the left-over batting. By the way, I have found that left-over batting is great for stuffing those little crochet toys.
The other day, my neighbor asked me," What was so funny, we heard you laughing and laughing this morning?' I had to tell them, "That wasn't laughing, that was me coughing to death." I think that then they were a bit embarrassed. Life is like a fish bowl when you live in a condo.

The best laid plans

Well, shucks, I went and caught a cold. Now I have bronchitis. I'll have to take it easy for a few days. I thought I'd tell you something about my stash, which you can see by the look of the Dresden plate quilt seems to contain the most old and useless fabrics. I was talking with a couple of friends some time ago and one of them asked "Roz, you must have a big wastebasket in your sewing room for all the scraps?" The answer is no, I have an empty coffee can for any bits of fabric and threads.